


Amy Parson Takes No Shit

by ohmygodfoxtrot



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Coming Out, Gen, Trans Female Character, because I'm tired of cis bullshit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2018-11-30 16:27:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 4,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11467314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmygodfoxtrot/pseuds/ohmygodfoxtrot
Summary: She hates this. She hates knowing that for all the talk of acceptance and anyone being able to play, it doesn’t matter. If she told the team, she can’t imagine what they’d think. And God, management would be a nightmare. She shouldn’t have to pick between hockey and being herself but she does and she’s made her choice.Someday, she’s gonna find a way to have her cake and eat it, too.





	1. Chapter 1

    Amy Parson takes no shit. 

 

    And if this bone headed d-man doesn’t stop getting on her ass soon, she’s gonna shove her elbow straight into his fucking jaw and make sure she takes two of his teeth with her into the penalty box.

 

_ Breathe. You can do this without violence. Show him up with your talent. That’s what you’ve got to do. _

 

__ When the puck comes her way, she goes for it. Dodging past this fucker who’s got it out for her and his pal, she slides it neatly past the goalie, bring them one up with only thirty two seconds left on the clock. Her teammates surround her, and she lets herself ride the high. She’s earned this. 

 

    “Great goal, Kent!”

 

    She grits her teeth and smiles as a teammate she doesn’t particularly care for acts like he hasn’t ruined how great she was feeling.

 

    Kent. 

 

    Kent.

 

_ Kent. _

 

__      They play keep-away for another thirty seconds, and then it’s over and they’ve shaken hands and it’s off to the locker room to mentally prepare for post-game interviews. 

 

    She never feels quite there after the games.

 

    On the rink, she scores goals and it doesn’t matter who the fuck she is as long as she’s playing well. 

 

    Who she is is everything in the locker room and the interviews. 

 

    She lets herself disappear. 

 

    It’s all so robotic that she can just float off in her own brain and go on autopilot. She knows she’s not supposed to just let it happen, Evelyn has told her over and over that dissociation isn’t good, but if she has to be mentally aware when that  _ fucking name  _ gets called one more time she’s going to snap. 

 

    She’s not sure how much longer it is until she gets home, preparing mac and cheese that isn’t on her diet plan and petting Kit while she eats it. She looks at her.

 

    “What do you think I am?”

 

    Kit just blinks.

 

    “Do you think I’m a boy or a girl?”

 

    She gives her that meow that means she’s lazy hungry. It’s probably bad that she knows her different types of hungry meows.

 

    “Do you even understand the concept of gender? You don’t give a shit about your genitals. I mean, you’re constantly fucking licking them, so you clearly give a shit in some way, but not like, a gender shit. God, I wish I could be more like you.”

 

    Kit looks almost bored, and she goes to stick her paw in the mac and cheese bowl. Amy swats her away and sighs,before giving her a bite of the mac and cheese, even though she know’s it’s bad for her. Kit doesn’t care. Kit does what she wants, with almost no regard for consequences.

  
    Yeah, Amy  _ really _ wishes she could be more like Kit. 


	2. Chapter 2

    Amy blinks, the hangover pounding in the back of her head. She grins up at Matt, the PR worker whose official title is Junior Crisis Manager, and whose unofficial title is Babysitter to Amy Parson. Well, that would be the unofficial title if people knew her name was Amy. 

 

    “What’d I do this time?”

 

    “Nothing too bad. There’s a video of you going around crying over a spilled tequila sunrise, and someone trying to claim that she’s pregnant with your child-

 

    “I didn’t do that.”

 

    “I know, but that’s more about last month’s little romp that this. So I’m gonna go try and get dirt on baby momma in case she even tries to start a rumor, unless there’s anything else you wanna tell me so that I can get a head start.”

 

    He always asks that. 

 

    She knows how she wants to answer. 

 

_ Yeah, my name is Amy and I’m a trans woman and I wanna tell the whole world that, so can you maybe set up a press conference so I can ruin my career and make your job ten times harder? Thanks. _

 

__ “Nope. I’m good.”

 

    “Great. Put that concealer I got you on your undereye bags, take a selfie, post it to insta, and this time, no subtle alcohol jokes in the captions, okay?”

 

    “Fine. Go find shit on the supposed mother of my new child. I’ll be right here, taking Advil and figuring out my best angles for hangover selfies.”

 

    Matt almost smiles at that. “Don’t act like you don’t already know them.”

 

    Amy tips her hat at him as he leaves, before flopping right back into the couch. She hates taking her own selfies. She may have complete control of the camera, but it’s just a reminder of how much she can never look how she wants.

 

    She really should tell Matt. 

 

    He needs to know. It’s his job to deal with shit like this.

 

    Would he even know how to deal with shit like this?

 

    Amy is careful. She never tries to get away with anything outside the walls of her apartment, no matter how bad the dysphoria gets. Anything inside the walls, her makeup, her bra’s, all of it is kept in a drawer that could be passed off as a girlfriend’s shit should someone find it. And not a soul except her therapist knows, so it’s not going to get out, so maybe Matt doesn’t need to know.

 

    But she wants him to. She wants someone to. 

 

    She hates this. She hates knowing that for all the talk of acceptance and anyone being able to play, it doesn’t matter. If she told the team, she can’t imagine what they’d think. And God, management would be a nightmare. She shouldn’t have to pick between hockey and being herself but she does and she’s made her choice. 

 

    Someday, she’s gonna find a way to have her cake and eat it, too.


	3. Chapter 3

    Evelyn has blackmailed her over her mac and cheese habit once again, and now she’s stuck doing post-game interviews. They’ve just made the playoffs, and everyone wants to hear about how the team is preparing and all that, but personal questions are out in full force too and it’s making Amy want to bash a reporter’s skull in with their own microphone. 

 

    “Kent, can you tell us how your cat is doing? She’s been out in full force on your instagram page.”

 

    “She’s doing well, assuming all her meowing isn’t her telling me she wants to kill me.”

 

    She gets left alone again for a while because honestly, people only like her for her cat. It’s probably true. She’s not very likeable. 

 

    “Hey, Kent, another questi-”

 

    “It’s Amy.”

 

    Her special skill always was pulling together snap plans with a pretty good rate of making them work. 

 

    “Excuse me? Who’s Amy?”

 

    First, she’s gotta pull this off to a room full of slightly confused sports reporters and teammates.

 

    “It’s me. I’m Amy Parson, I’m a trans woman, and I’m sick of hiding in this hyper masculine bullshit sport.”

 

    Matt’s in the corner of her eye now, looking a combination of angry and panicked. She doesn’t  give a flying fuck.

 

    “So yeah, I’m going into these playoffs with all I’ve got to give, and if I see any of you fuckers trying to compare my play from before this and after this, please know that I signed my goddamn Aces contract knowing full well who I was, so this isn’t a fucking change or something new. And if any of you try to claim that, I will not hesitate to put all I’ve got into ruining your career.”

 

    She didn’t notice Matt coming up behind her until he’s leaning over into her mic. “That’s all the time we have for today. No more questions.”

 

    The room erupts, despite Matt’s orders, and he grabs her by the shoulder and lead her away, back into the bowels of the arena. She notices shocked team mates looking after her, but she doesn’t give a shit what they think. 

 

    They end up in some sort of conference room, where Matt promptly falls into a chair.

 

    “Ke-

 

    “Nope.”

 

    “Amy. What the fuck.”

 

    “What are you what the fuck-ing? The fact that I’m trans, the fact that I came out as trans, the fact that I didn’t tell you I was trans, the part where I called a whole room of sports reporters fuckers?”

 

    “All of it. I mean it, sincerely,  _ what the fuck?” _

 

__ “Matt, that’s a question that’s very hard to answer.”

 

    “Okay, let's start from the fuckers thing. Could you at least have watched your language?”

 

    “No.”

 

    “Moving on. Why didn’t you tell me? Not like, you needed to come out to me or anything, but I am unofficially the guy that handles shit like this for you.”

 

    She bristles at that. “What part of it needed to be handled, huh, Matt? This isn’t like the other shit you do. This isn’t the mcdonald's stripper thing, and it’s not a parenthood threat, it’s just who I am.”

 

    “Fair enough, but like, I could have helped you with this, with coming out.”

 

    “Could you have?”

 

    “What’s that supposed to mean?”

 

    “It means what it means, Matt. Would the Aces management let you help their star player come out as a trans woman?”

 

    “I don’t mean Aces management, Amy, I mean me, the one with a college degree in this, helping you with a good statement that contained PG language.”

 

    She softens a little. “Didn’t know you had a rebellious streak in you.”

 

   “I didn’t make it as far as I did in this career without knowing when to make a bold move.”

 

    Her phone chimes and she pulls it out to see that the Aces account has tagged her in a tweet. It’s just some generic bullshit on support and figuring things out going forward. It takes her about ten seconds to type out a hasty reply, about five more seconds for Matt’s phone to chime, another five for him to check and read it, yet another five for him to gently lower his head to the table, and a full thirty for him to lift it again.

 

    “You just told your employers to ‘Fix your locker room culture before you even pretend to give two shits about me.’”

 

    “Uh huh.”

 

   “Well, I know for sure that you’re gonna keep my job position open. Let’s hope I can stick around in it.” 

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

    Matt says she has to apologize to the reporters. They argue about it for a while, but they finally compromise on apologizing for calling them all fuckers, and not apologizing for threatening to ruin the careers of anyone who makes shitty comments.

 

    “Do I have to do it in person? If I have to do it in person, I’m going to call them all something worse than fuckers.”

 

    “Fine, you can make the apology on instagram. Speaking of which, you have to update your twitter and instagram accounts, and also your snapchat.”

 

     “That’s going to take fooooreeeeeveeeeeeer, though.”

 

     “Then it’s good I already did it. Now, figure out what you want to say and then I’ll proofread it. And even though you’re not apologizing the the career threatening, you’re not allowed to do it again.”

 

    “I thought you said you were on my side, though. I did dumb shit like threatening to end careers before I came out anyways.” Amy knows there’s not really anything to complain about, but she likes being contrary.

 

    “Have you met Leonard?” Matt smirks, and Amy knows she’s about to get ragged on.

 

    “No, who the fuck is Leonard?”

 

    “He’s the senior crisis manager. And he’s old, and close to retirement, and do you know what he does?”

 

    “Handles crisis’s?”

 

    Matt smiles. “Leonard handles _crises_ for the whole rest of the team. All of them. Leonard handles nineteen team members crises, and he gets here at nine in the morning, and he goes home at five at night. Do you know what hours I work?”

 

    Amy grins. “I’m guessing it’s not the nine to five?”

 

    “You are an on call job. I deal with you twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. So Amy?”

 

    “Yes?”

 

    “No more threatening the reporters.”

 

    “Counteroffer- I don’t threaten the reporters at press conferences, I threaten shitty blogs over twitter. “

 

    “Counter-counteroffer: you can threaten shitty blogs over twitter, but not on weekends.”

 

    “Deal.”

 

    “Thank god. Maybe I’ll be able to finish Scandal if I’m not worried about you.”

 

     “You’re not caught up on Scandal???”

 

    “No, I’m not caught up on Scandal, and I swear to god if you spoil it I’ll- I’ll- I don’t know what I’ll do, Amy, but it’ll be horrible and life ruining.”

 

    “I just came out as a trans woman in a league that doesn’t even have out gay players, _Matt,_ you can’t ruin my life anymore than I already have!”

 

    Matt’s grin switches from teasing to soft. “Really, though, you know you’re gonna be okay, right? Like, I’ll make sure you’re okay. You kicked ass before, and you’re gonna kick ass now.”

 

    Amy scoffs. “I did more than kick ass. I pulverized ass.”

 

    “Great. Now write the statement while I go grab cheez-it’s from the vending machine. And then we have to go through a shit ton of other stuff so the press won’t rip you to shreds, so be prepared to tell me literally everything about your life, cause if you thought they were hard on you before, you’re in for a ride.”

 

    Amy’s phone rings, and she checks it. Fuck.

 

    “I need to take this.”

 

    “Who is it?”

 

    Amy grimaces. “My ex. There may be some other things you need to know.”

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

    “You  _ fucked  _ Jack Zimmermann???”

 

    “If we’re being technical, I didn’t fuck Jack Zimmermann, Jack Zimmermann fu-”

 

    “Amy just answer the phone and never tell me anything like that again.”

 

    “Fine.” She hits accept. The room remains silent, until Amy break it.

 

    “Hello?”

 

    “Kent, jesus christ, did you really come out at a post game interview? Did you consider for one  _ fucking  _ second what that might do to me? God, the rumors were bad enough when people didn’t know either of us weren’t straight, but-”

 

    “Did you read past the fucking headline, Jack?”

 

    “No, Kenny, the headline told me all I needed to know, that you’re a selfish bas-”

 

    “Go read one of the actual fucking articles,  _ Jack.  _ I know you hate my guts but I’m not that fucking horrible.”

 

    A muffled “Honey?” comes through the speaker, and Jack yells back. “What?” There’s a muffled exchange of dialogue, and Amy doesn’t even want to think about who’s with Jack and calling him honey at a time like this. Thankfully, she doesn’t have to, because Jack starts speaking to her again.   
  


    “Oh-shit, Ke-Amy, I’m so sorry, god.” 

 

    “So did you call me just to chew me out? You could have done that over a text, and it would have been a lot easier.”

 

    “You know I hate texting.”

 

    “Now, if we’re done here, me and Matt have shit to do-”

 

    And just like that, Jack’s frantic again. “Matt? Who the hell is Matt?”

 

    “Jack, take a fucking- whatever you take now for anxiety, I don’t know, it’s probably not Xanax anymore. Matt is my PR manager. Here.” She switches to speakerphone. “You’re on speaker. Matt, Jack. Jack, Matt.”

 

    “Heyyyyyy… Jack.”

 

    “So you’re behind all this?”

 

    Matt laughs. “No, the… coming out thing was Amy. All on her own. She’s pretty great at trying to pull off stupid plans.”

 

    “So she hasn’t changed all that much since I last saw her.” 

 

    The words bite, and Amy winces.

 

    “Jack, I-” 

 

    “Save it. I’ve got other stuff to do this afternoon. Bye.”

 

    The phone call ends, and Amy stares at it for a moment.

 

    “Soooo, I wouldn’t pry, except for the part where that’s kind of my job, but it doesn’t exactly sound like you guys are on the best of terms.”

 

    “Remember when I visited Samwell last year?”

 

    “Uh-huh.”

    “I asked Jack to play for the Aces, and then said some real shitty stuff when he told me no.”

 

    “What kind of shitty stuff?”

 

    “It might have involved implying that I was gonna out him to his team and then jabbing on his insecurities with his dad.”

 

    “And why would you do that?”

 

    “Always DTR, Matt. Always DTR.”


	6. Chapter 6

    Amy, surprisingly, doesn’t get that much shit for it. The sports bloggers can’t seem to reconcile their argument that women can’t play in the NHL with their constant claims that she’s not, in fact, a woman, and anyone who says either of those things is always drowned out by the legions of fans who have crawled out of the woodwork to defend her. Apparently in a league utterly devoid of anything other than cis straight men, coming out as a trans woman will change team loyalties. 

 

    The locker room is an utterly different story.

 

    “Are you wearing  _ lipstick?” _

 

__ “Yeah, and I still somehow managed to whip your ass in scrimmage, so fuck off.”

 

    Management has decided to essentially ignore her, which she’s sure will change when Pride month rolls around, but for now, it’s okay. Her fellow players, however, act like she’s a zoo animal they’ve never seen before.

 

     “It’s a pretty color on you.”

 

     It’s the rookie in the stall next to her. Cookie, she thinks. He came in with that name, and she’s got no idea how he got it.The rest of the locker room is ignoring her now.

 

     “Thanks.”

 

     “My... boyfriend’s really into that kind of stuff.”

 

     Amy stares at him for a second, and then whisper screams. “Oh! Shit! You’re coming out right to me right now! Uhhh…”

 

    Cookie stares at her. “Okay. This was a bad idea.”

 

    “Nonono! I mean, I’m also not straight, but like- I'm not used to people coming out to me. Especially in NHL locker rooms. Uhhh, do you wanna grab drinks? Talk about the struggle of homophobia in this sport? Or I could just show you my cat. Or you could show me your cat. If you have a cat. We don’t have to discuss gay stuff just because we’re gay. Do you have a cat?”

 

    “Tommy has a cat that’s slowly warming up to me.”

 

    “Tommy is…”

 

    “The boyfriend.”

 

    “Right. He’s someone that exists. You have a boyfriend, and that’s okay, because being gay is okay.”

 

    Cookie stares at her. “I’ve overcome my internalized homophobia. I know that being gay is okay.”

 

    “You are gay, right? Like straight up gay? Sorry, I just wanna make sure I’m not using the wrong labels for you.”

 

    Cookie’s mouth quirks. “Yes, I am straight up gay. And you are…”

 

    “Pan? I guess? I don’t know, most people are dateable and also fuckable, so that’s just sort of how I live my life.”

 

    The locker room has emptied out by now, and Matt sticks his head in. “Amy, you’ve got a volunteering thing. Something with cute animals where people are gonna take pics and you’re not gonna have to open your mouth. Also, hey Ben, what’s up?”

 

    “Oh, nothing much, just telling Amy about how I’m a big fat gay and how my boyfriend’s cat kinda likes me now.”

 

    Matt doesn’t miss a beat. “Wonderful. Before you go telling anyone else that, though, please consult me first. I don’t need two of you on my hands. Want to join Amy in holding dogs for an hour?”

 

    “Oh, hell yeah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't even mean to make Cookie he just sort of happened and now i love him he's my son okay bye


	7. Chapter 7

    Ben, which is apparently his name, adores dogs. 

 

    Like, really adores dogs. He’s playing with a mutt who’s name Amy missed, and he looks like he’s in heaven. No wonder Tommy’s cat is only now warming up to him. 

 

    “So what’s Tommy like?” Amy asks in a quiet voice, almost conversational tone as press takes pics of her feeding a corgi. Cookie shoots her a glance, but apparently decides that if they’re talking quietly, they can get away with it. 

 

    “He’s… sweet isn’t exactly the right word. Kind, but not like conventionally kind. Kind like he’d do anything in the world for you and act like it was nothing, but he’s also… god, every word I can think of sounds bad, but really, he’s sarcastic and sharp, but in like a good way? Really into the whole makeup thing, like I told you, which I don’t really get, but if it makes him happy, then good. And he’s really good at making me laugh? Like it’s something he actively tries to do. Acts all proud when he does, too, cause not a lot of people can make me laugh, and like I said, he’s got a cat, Princess, treats her like royalty, that’s why he named her that, say’s that since she’s a rescue, he has to give her so much good to cancel out the bad she’s been though and he’s just great and-”

 

    “Slow down there, lover boy. Jesus christ, that’s more than I’ve ever heard you say in total over all the time I’ve known you.”

 

    Cookie grins. “Tell me you’ve never been so head over heels for someone that you couldn’t shut up about them.”

 

    Amy focuses on the golden retriever that’s come up to her. “Once. Never a-fucking-gain.”

 

    “That much of a shit show.”

 

    Amy nods.

 

    “So how’d you get your name?”

 

    Cookie scoffs and blushes at the same time. “So partway through my junior year of college, I’m at this friend’s party, and I down a large amount of vodka and then raid the pantry, where I find a box of Keebler cookies. No idea what kind, I was shitfaced. Point is, I eat the whole box, and then I barf them up on his lawn, and when I wake up the next morning, I’m Cookie Boy. Couldn’t shed the damn name. Eventually it just got shortened to Cookie.”

 

    “Holy shit.”

 

    “I know.”

 

    “Dude, this one time I was schwasted, and I, like, ended up in a karaoke bet with these biker dudes. I get up on this stage, I sing a perfect rendition of Party in the USA, I win like three hundred bucks that I donated to some gay charity that I don’t remember.”

 

    “How do you not remember what charity?”

 

    “I googled ‘gay charity’ and made the donation to the first link.”

 

    “God, you’re a mess.”

 

    “I know!”

 

    They’re giggling at this point, but Amy doesn’t care, because it’s fun, and she hasn’t been having all that much fun recently.

 

    “Do you regret anything about how you came out?”

 

    “Oooh, hard hitter there. Uhh, no.”

 

    “Why not?”

 

    “Because it was authentically me. That’s what coming out should be about, being authentically you. Telling a whole room of sports reporters that I’m a woman and that I’ll end the career of anyone who says otherwise? That’s just my style. If and when you do it, find your style. That’s all I got for you.”

 

    Cookie nods. “Thanks. I think I’m gonna be doing it… soon, you know? I wanna run it past Tommy and Matt, but then, I think I wanna tell the world that there’s one more queer player in the league.”

 

    Amy nods, and smiles, and know, in her heart, that Cookie can pull through anything.


	8. Chapter 8

    “We’ve got a dinner with Ben and Tommy tomorrow.”

 

    They’re in Matt’s office, and Amy’s throwing his stress ball at the ceiling and catching it when she starts talking.

 

    “Ben, the gay rookie? Who’s Tommy?”

 

    “Tommy is his boyfriend. Ben wants to come out, and he doesn’t want to get bogged down in the rest of the Ace’s managament, cause I’m great as a token player, but two gays is gonna make us The Gay Team. Also, the world doesn’t know I’m pan, so we were thinking we could slip that in there somewhere, you know, two birds with one stone.”

 

    “Did you plan this with Ben already?”

 

    “Yup. We went out for ice cream together. Tommy came. He’s great, and we’ve got dinner planned, where your fancy schmancy degree in people stuff is gonna help him, like you said you would have helped me if I had told you.”

 

    “Wonderful. Is he thinking twitter statement, press conference?”

 

    “I don’t know. That’s what this dinner is for.”

 

    “Guess we’re going to dinner then.”

 

    Ben lives in an nondescript apartment building, in a part of Las Vegas that doesn’t quite feel like Las Vegas. Matt and Amy carpool there, and she’s got a bottle of wine, because she’s a polite guest, and Matt has some sort of pizza thing in a bundt dish. When they get to the front door of the apartment, they glance at each other before Matt knocks. He’s immediately greeted by Tommy.

 

     “Hi, come in, you must be Matt. I’m Tommy, Ben’s back in the kitchen working on the chicken. I’m so glad to meet you, thank you so much for helping Ben out.”

 

     “Well, it is my job. Here. I bought an appetizer.”

 

     Tommy takes it, turning out of the entry way and heading into the apartment. Amy and Matt follow, and they find Cookie darting around the kitchen.

 

    “Didn’t know you could cook.”

 

    “Learned in college. Found a class nearby and took it. It was fun, and I kept doing it.”

     Matt nods. “It’s a handy skill to have.”

 

    Cookie grabs the chicken out of the over, and they gather around the table to eat. The food is delicious, and they’re quiet for a while. Finally, Matt speaks.

 

     “Okay, let’s get down to business before dessert. We need to set out a plan of action, how you’re going to come out, what we want our mission to be here, how to respond to backlash, how much we’re gonna loop the rest of the Aces management in, that sort of thing.”

 

    “I thought…” Cookie trails off.

 

    “What?”

 

    “What if I just started… being gay?”

 

    Tommy snorts. “Baby, it’s a little late to _start_ that.”

 

    “You know what I mean. What if I didn’t come out? What if I just started doing all the shit with Tommy that straight rookies do with their girlfriends, and we just let the cookie crumble?”

 

    Amy nods. “I like that plan. Who needs press conferences when you can just take a dude on dates and see how long it takes the press to catch up? Fair warning, it’s gonna take forever, cause the press is as dumb as a bag of rocks and only teens on obscure social networking sites will catch on. I know this from experience.”

 

    Tommy stares at her. “Who… never mind. I like that plan, though. It feels like the best fit for us.”

 

    “And when people do realize?” Matt has his questions all lined up.

 

    “Then we do nothing. I keep dating Tommy, in public, and eventually everyone stops scratching their heads and just sort of has to accept it.”

 

    “And management?”

 

    “We don’t have to loop them in. Do the other rookies tell you about their girlfriends?”

 

    “No.”

 

    “There you go.”

 

    Amy smiles and lean back in her chair. “Well then, looks like we’ve got a plan.”


	9. Chapter 9

    It takes the press a whole two months to notice that Cookie is maybe not the straightest kid around.

 

    It’s a insta post from Tommy that pushes it over the edge. It’s of Cookie, slurping up noodles in an Olive Garden, and it’s captioned  _ date night. he’s not the most romantic. _ The next morning, sports blogs are flooded with articles, and it’s a lot funnier because this is the fifth time Tommy has posted date night photos to his insta, and suddenly they’re all getting dredged up. 

 

    Cookie and Tommy take it in stride. While it took the press forever, Amy had been right, and it had been essentially the internet’s biggest open secret. They’ve become adored, and when the Ace’s get knocked out of the playoffs soon after, for the first time in a while, Amy doesn’t feel shitty about it,

 

    The past two months have been good for everyone. The four of them have become a solid friend group, and Amy feels that for the first time in awhile, she belongs somewhere. Matt’s managed her pretty well, and her image with the press is on the up and up. She’s done a sponsorship for Gatorade, which she’s been downing by the dozen, cause by god, does estrogen make her thirsty. 

 

     She hasn’t told anyone but her friends and her therapist that she’s started medically transitioning. She knows that if people know, they’ll be talk about it affecting her playing, and while she’s technically not breaking any NHL rules, it’s not something she wants to deal with. There had been an argument with Matt about that.

 

    “You can’t just not tell people you’re taking estrogen, Amy, it doesn’t work like that!”

 

    “Why not? Give me one solid reason I have to tell people I’m taking estrogen, Matt! There isn’t one! My medical team outside of the Aces knows, Evelyn knows, everyone important knows!”

 

    “But why, Ames, why not tell Aces management?”

 

    “Because the more people who know, the more likely it is to get out, and I don’t want it getting out, I want to just play without gossip and rumors and dealing with them all, Matt, I want one part of my life to be my own.”

 

    “Okay.”

 

    “Okay? That’s it? You’re not gonna argue anymore?”

 

    “No. That’s a perfectly good reason, and you deserve to have privacy.”

 

    Matt goes in for a hug, and Amy accepts it, and her heart flutters.

 

    Oh, no.

**Author's Note:**

> So I got tired of a big name fandomer pulling the usual cis bullshit so here's some proof that trans characters can be ten times more interesting than you think. Catch me at ohmygodfoxtrot.


End file.
